Loyalist threat to peaceline talks

Loyalist paramilitaries say their efforts to bring stability have been ignored

Loyalists have been urged to reconsider their threat to pull out of interface talks in protest at criticism of paramilitaries by the Independent Monitoring Commission.

Loyalist groups have demanded the commission admit to flaws in its latest report which condemned ongoing activity by republican and loyalist paramilitaries.

The Ulster Volunteer Force, the Red Hand Commando and the Ulster Defence Association have threatened to pull out of talks aimed at keeping the peace at flashpoints this summer.

Loyalist representatives complain that their efforts to bring stability have been ignored by the commission.

Belfast Lord Mayor Martin Morgan appealed to loyalist groups to rethink the move.

"Instead of sabre rattling and making threats they need to face up their responsibility to end their paramilitary activity," Mr Morgan said.

The commission are due to deliver a second report later this year

The call has been echoed by Sinn Fein councillor Joe O'Donnell who said there was no justification for such a move.

"Whatever the concerns about the IMC there is no justification for either loyalists, the UPRG or PUP to step away from their responsibilities to ensure that we have a calm summer."

"While Sinn Fein believe that the IMC has no credibility and are also deeply concerned about the implied threat to the community sector in particular, we will continue to work towards a peaceful summer."

The IMC report linked the Ulster Volunteer Force to murder, major crime, so-called paramilitary punishment attacks and to a bomb placed outside a Belfast bar on St Patrick's Day.

The Red Hand Commando group was accused of being deeply involved in drug dealing, something its leadership denies.

Last week, the leader of the Progressive Unionist Party, David Ervine, said he would never again meet with the commission because of the report.

Mr Ervine, whose party has close links with the UVF, said the report omitted important information about contacts between loyalist organisations and the commission.

The group's first report, published last week, pinpointed ongoing activities such as racketeering and sectarian attacks.

The four man commission, which began operation in January, was originally due to report on loyalist and republican paramilitary activity every six months.

This timetable was dramatically altered in February following an incident involving a dissident republican, which Chief Constable Hugh Orde immediately blamed on the IRA.

The commission is a crucial element in the two governments' plans for restoring devolution, which was suspended in October 2002 amid allegations of IRA intelligence gathering at Stormont.